In 2019, ten years after the entry into operation of high-speed lines, Italy's rail transport is split in two, with the South in an emergency. This is what emerges from the annual "Pendolaria" report drawn up (from 2008) by Legambiente and presented today in Palermo to the Real Fonderia della Cala, in the presence, among others, of the Minister for the South Giuseppe Provenzano, of the vice-president of Legambiente Edoardo Zanchini, of the director of the Ministry of Transport Angelo Mautone.
"Transport is the only sector in Italy that has seen emissions increase since 1990; we must accelerate the change with the aim of doubling the number of daily passengers on regional and metropolitan trains, from the current 5.7 to 10 million", said Zanchini.
The numbers are increasing both for long-distance trains and for regional trains and metropolitan lines, the latter present in 7 cities: Milan, Rome, Naples, Turin, Genoa, Brescia and Catania. Five million 699 thousand people take regional trains every day in Italy (+ 1.6% in 2018 compared to the previous year) and metro lines (+ 2.4%). Passengers who use the regional service are 2 million 919 thousand, of which 1.413 million use the Trenitalia trains and 1.506 million those of the other 20 dealers. The increase in passengers on regional trains since 2010 was 8.2%.
"There is a lot of talk about the road network, but Sicily needs investments on the railways" said Minister for the South, Giuseppe Provenzano, in Palermo, on the sidelines of the presentation of the 2019 "Pendolaria" report by Legambiente. To travel the island from west to east and reach Syracuse by train from Trapani, it takes about 12 hours, it was pointed out to the minister. "In the meantime, it is necessary to intervene on the completion of the doubling of the Tyrrhenian line - Provenzano observed - and it is necessary to increase the frequency of connections on some routes such as Agrigento-Palermo: more journeys also means compensating for the disservices". For the minister, the phenomenon of depopulation of the internal areas is also due to the fact that distances are not shortened, and stigmatizes the behavior of the regional government which "with great delay has renewed the agreement with Trenitalia".
